The Girl of an Old Mansion

26. Time to Face the Music

At night, Ruyi was thinking about Jian's birthday, she was excited to present him something precious and was smiling faintly being occupied in her thoughts that Jian will surely love her gift. Clouded with the happy thoughts of her husband, Ruyi fell asleep.

There was a creepy silence in the room. A sudden sound fell into Ruyi's ears. She kept ignoring those sounds but after sometimes those noises engulfed her, completely capturing her brain, unable to render any logical thought as she was half asleep. Lastly, she turned towards Jian to tell him about the creepy sounds.

The moment she looked at Jian a sharp scream escaped her mouth. To her horror Jian was lying on the bed, every veins of his body turned black and he was shivering in fear asking for help in sleep.

Horrified Ruyi rushed to the door and asked guards to immediately inform the Emperor and Empress about Jian's condition.

Jian woke up from the fear and saw Ruyi beside him. He felt relief that maybe he saw a nightmare. The moment he was about to speak he saw a horrible shadow standing behind Ruyi.A lady with silver hair, creased skin, crooked black teeth and whose black eyes were ogling at Jian with a creepy smile. Looking at the gruesome creature in front of him, Jian's eyes widened, he wanted to scream but his voice wouldn't come out. He was not able to articulate a single word. His brain was frozen from the terror, unable to offer a course of action to his trembling limbs. He looked at the ghastly creature as she was mumbling something but before he could understand her words he fainted, unable to face the horror.

Ruyi saw Jian while he was looking at something behind Ruyi and passed out mysteriously. She keeps on waking Jian but all in vain.

The Emperor and Empress rushed towards Jian as they got the news and rushed into his chamber. Empress Iseul saw Ruyi crying while Jian was lying on the bed motionless, her heart skipped a beat from fear of losing her beloved son.

"What happened to Jian? Son get up. See your mom is here. Please open your eyes, my son," the Queen cried in agony while trying to wake up her son.

The Emperor understood everything and summoned Mi-sook immediately, fuming with rage.

Ruyi and Queen both were crying looking at the numbed and pale Jian. His veins were turning black.

Mi-sook entered the chamber and was shocked to see Prince Jian.

Queen got up and moved towards Mi-sook, staring at her in hatred and slapped her across the face. The sound of the slap echoed through the corridor.

"You filthy lady, you played a game with a Queen. You surely have some guts. But trust me if anything bad happens to my son you will have to pay for this with your life," shouted the Queen.

"Your Highness! Trust me, I haven't done anything. Lord Yong is responsible for this condition of the Prince. I am suspicious that he had not killed the Princess that night. The Princess is still alive and that is why Prince Jian is in dire straits. Lord Yong cheated us, I am innocent," pleaded Mi-sook.

The Emperor felt anxious and moved out of the room. He secretly sent a guard to bring Lord Yong to him.

Meanwhile, Mi-sook was assuring the Queen that the Prince will be fine soon and that they only need to kill the Princess.

Ruyi was puzzled about what they were talking about. She approached Mi-sook while she was going and ordered her to tell everything about Jian's condition.

Mi-sook narrated the whole story to Ruyi.

Meanwhile Lord Yong entered the castle and greeted the King.

The King looked at Lord Yong in hope and ran towards him. He asked, "Save my son, I can't live without him. This is my request to you."

Lord Yong was left speechless seeing the king's condition but looking at his grim face he decided to tell him everything.

"Your Majesty! I have found out the solution to break the curse"

"That's great, it means my Jian will be alright?"

"I apologise, but this won't be able to save the Prince."

"Your Majesty! Prince Jian was born in an inauspicious constellation which represents a short life. That means even if the curse is lifted he still won't be able to live long. In case we choose to let Prince Jian work on lifting the curse, Mi-Sook would somehow kill the princess to end the curse faster, but since the Prince will live a short life, You My majesty will in the end lose both your children. ," explained Lord Yong.

The King fell down on his knees in disbelief that God was being so cruel to him. He started to remember his memories with his son. His smile. His voice. Memories flooding back into his head. He felt the sharp pangs of his heart jolting him on thought of losing his son.

Lord Yong can understand his pain as a father. He was consoling him.

"Your Majesty! Don't lose hope, have faith in God."

"It's all Karma, what goes around comes around. How can I beg God for mercy when I couldn't stop my wife from committing the crime. Now, I have to bear this pain, I have to face the music, I have to pay for the crimes by losing my son," the King groaned in pain.

"Lord Yong, won't it lift the curse from Si-ri if Ji... Jian di...Dies?" asked the King with trembling lips.

"Only in case the Prince would be burned alive in a pyre blessed with holy chants. But it is such an awful act as it causes a painful death. I believe that Si-ri must lift the curse by collecting blessings," said Lord Yong.

"I only wish a peaceful death for my son," said King with his lifeless eyes.

Ruyi flabbergasted after confronting the bitter truth. She felt numb, her brain seemed to have stopped working. It was feeling like something had turned her world upside down. Her fairy tale love story was no longer a fairy tale but had turned out to be a malicious reality that has filled her with an awful hollowness.

Lord Yong told the King some important things that need to be taken care of for Prince Jian.

"Chances are that Prince Jian won't be able to remember anything from last night. He will not see any horrific shadow till sunset. After sunset, the shadows will start to appear in front of him, for them his fear will work as a food. The more he'll fear them the more they'll suck his energy and this way he will die every night a little till his soul finally leaves his body. He must avoid darkness at any cost," suggested Lord Yong. He tried to console the King but at this time nobody could lessen his pain. After all it's not easy for a father to see his child dangling on the verge of death.

Mi-sook enters her chamber disappointed.

"It's all because of that old man that I failed in my plan. I was about to possess Prince Jian; I was only moments away from having him completely under my control. But I won't forget that slap, you will pay for this insult my Queen and I'll make sure you will regret it."

"Firstly, I need to convince the Queen to kill the Princess. Once the Princess is dead I'll take my revenge," mumbles Mi-sook brushing her cheeks.

Ruyi cried caressing Jian's face and fell asleep holding him in her embrace.

In the morning sunlight comes, like an elixir, after so many black hours. Birds soften the dawn with their chorus making the morning more melodious. Ruyi felt something against her cheeks and slowly opened her eyes and saw a blur figure. She rubbed her eyes to see clearly.

It was Prince Jian smiling at her. Ruyi's eyes widened before she ran to Prince Jian and held onto him in fear ; fear that if she let go someone would snatch him away from her.